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We investigated phase transitions in ferroelectric silicon doped hafnium oxide (FE-Si:HfO2) by temperature dependent polarization and x-ray diffraction measurements. If heated under mechanical confinement, the orthorhombic ferroelectric phase reversibly transforms into a phase with antiferroelectric behavior. Without confinement, a transformation into a monoclinic/tetragonal phase mixture is observed during cooling. These results suggest the existence of a common higher symmetry parent phase to the orthorhombic and monoclinic phases, while transformation between these phases appears to be inhibited by an energy barrier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report that crystalline phases with ferroelectric behavior can be formed in thin films of SiO2 doped hafnium oxide. Films with a thickness of 10 nm and with less than 4 mol. % of SiO2 crystallize in a monoclinic/tetragonal phase mixture. We observed that the formation of the monoclinic phase is inhibited if crystallization occurs under mechanical encapsulation and an orthorhombic phase is obtained. This phase shows a distinct piezoelectric response, while polarization measurements exhibit a remanent polarization above 10 μC/cm2 at a coercive field of 1 MV/cm, suggesting that this phase is ferroelectric. Ferroelectric hafnium oxide is ideally suited for ferroelectric field effect transistors and capacitors due to its excellent compatibility to silicon technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]